Freedom is intertwined with America. Our nation was founded on the principles of freedom. Yet what is it and how is it lost? Though it is in the very fabric of America, it is being lost because we have forgotten its cost. What is its cost? Risk. This is the issue after attacks or contaminated foods or massive layoffs by large companies. We are given a choice after these events. You will hear the politicians say how they will help prevent these things from happening in the future. Our choice will be freedom or security. This is the issue of government health care. Human nature is drawn toward security. The argument often given is it would be better to go through the inconvenience of some lost freedom than to lose one's life, or get sick, or lose a good paying job. Yet our founders recognized that freedom was of such value that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and sacred honor to obtain it. Why did they do it?
America's founders lived under oppression. They knew it was not something to pass on to their children. They were thinking of you and me when they declared independence (the opposite of dependence on government) with a firm reliance (dependence) on God. As Thomas Jefferson said, "God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?" These words are inscribed in the walls of the Jefferson Memorial. This is why the Bible is outlawed in nations that hate freedom. Men love power and want others to depend on and worship them. If people rely on God it is that much less power to man
We rejoiced to see the Berlin Wall come down, but it was not the end of Communism. It flourishes here as we pick up pieces of socialism here and there. The idea of freedom is loved because of our heritage, but is not protected because it is both compromised and confused for security. Sometimes this security is false security, and almost certainly it is temporal.
We all make decisions that involve freedom or security. It is best when individuals are able to make these decisions rather than others. Consider this argument in the current "health care" debate. The socialists argue that many seniors make poor decisions in their health insurance plans and therefore someone else should make the decisions for them. We probably all can see some good logic in this, but it totally annihilates a very important factor: freedom. We also know that there are many seniors that make very good decisions and that freedom is very important even if it means potential risks.
The price tag of our freedom has been set much too low. If our forefathers died for it, would it be too much for us to take some of the risks and toil needed keep it? That which is promised to us to be medicine is poison. It is our responsibility to recognize the the difference.
